If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Le'Veon Bell #24 of the Michigan State Spartans breaks through the defensive line of the Ohio State Buckeyes on October 1, 2011 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

For as long as Le'Veon Bell plays for the Steelers, his competition won't be just the Browns, Bengals and Ravens. It also will be Montee Ball, Eddie Lacy and Christine Michael.

Bell, the Michigan State power runner who led the nation in carries last season, wasn't considered to be the second-best running back available in the NFL Draft last weekend. But the Steelers made him the No. 2 running back taken, choosing him over Lacy (Packers) of Alabama, Ball (Broncos) of Wisconsin and Michael (Seahawks) of Texas A&M, all of whom followed Bell in the second round.

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. called the pick “a reach” and suggested the Steelers should have taken Lacy or Ball — though he won't criticize them for taking Bell.

“Bell would have been a guy that it depends upon your running backs coach and your system and your style of play and what you're trying to do — running backs have to fit a system,” Kiper said. “Bell is a guy who (Mike) Tomlin and (Kevin) Colbert and company like, and I have no issue with that.”

Kiper added, “I thought Bell was a second- or third-round guy, one of the five or six top guys, and I have no issue with that.”

Bell was drafted higher than all but two Steelers running backs in the past 31 years: first-rounders Rashard Mendenhall and Tim Worley.

“When you watched him, he was getting five yards every carry,” Colbert said. “If it was a one-yard run, if he didn't have any room, he always seemed to fall forward for four (more).”

Lacy was considered to be the top running back going into the draft but ended up being chosen fourth behind Giovani Bernard, the North Carolina runner who went to the Bengals five picks into the second round; Bell; and then Ball.

The Steelers liked Bell because they felt he picked up tougher yardage than Lacy, who ran behind Alabama's NFL-like offensive line.

Running backs coach Kirby Wilson assembled video of the top runners against the best competition and in situations where they had to create much of the their own yardage.

“He tries to put on the roughest games. The games where the back isn't necessarily getting those big holes, so you can see what he's really capable of doing on his own,” offensive coordinator Todd Haley said.

The Steelers' offense labored last season during the long stretches in which the running game produced almost nothing, and it badly needed an effective runner to make defenses respect something other than Ben Roethlisberger's throwing.

And while Bell must beat out Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman to start, Haley might have tipped his hand when he said that adding Bell and former Cardinals running back LaRod Stephens-Howling “puts us back in a place where we can have a chance to run the ball and throw the ball.”

19 carries per game will be fine...ideally, that would give 5-15 touches to other backs...

370 is the magic number for the death of RBs...

My fear is that if he is a 3 down back and he's catching 2-3 passes per game plus the 19 touches in the ground game and the 10 blitz pickups to keep Ben clean and you're talking 21-22 touches per game plus head butting a linebacker 10 times a game and you get 336 - 352 carries per season plus the blitz pickup. He won't last 4 years, IMO, on the other hand, maybe 4 years is all a team expects from a back these days anyhow.

My fear is that if he is a 3 down back and he's catching 2-3 passes per game plus the 19 touches in the ground game and the 10 blitz pickups to keep Ben clean and you're talking 21-22 touches per game plus head butting a linebacker 10 times a game and you get 336 - 352 carries per season plus the blitz pickup. He won't last 4 years, IMO, on the other hand, maybe 4 years is all a team expects from a back these days anyhow.

Pappy

Steven Jackson... Ladanian Tomlinson... Frank Gore... I'll take those careers.... I think it's a matter of circumstance, to an extent... Injuries happen... Look at Carolina - both their RBs are always hurt (DeAngelo and JStew) and they split